HEAD MASTER’S INTRODUCTION It is fair to say that 2021 is a year that has been full of surprises. It was a huge privilege for me to take on the Headship of King’s High in January and I have been incredibly proud of the remarkable endeavours and achievements of our students and staff alike. The day before the Spring Term began, the Prime Minister announced a further national lockdown, which lasted until March. In the face of such exceptional change, our staff team immediately switched again to remote education, providing outstanding teaching and learning, as well as a remarkable breadth of co-curricular activities, for our students at home. Likewise, our students rose to the challenge and adapted with characteristic resilience and determination to make the most of their new circumstances and embraced our new remote school. Since our return to school in March, there have been some superb achievements to celebrate. For example, our Young Enterprise team made it to the national finals of this year’s competition, our school was ranked 13th nationally among girls’ independent schools for sport, and we were delighted to achieve the EcoSchools Green Flag Award for our students’ environmental work. As part of this, we also welcomed to school four new beehives within our new apiary and we look forward to our first King’s High jar of honey in August! As I write now, we are in the midst of a week of the creative arts, with productions of Macbeth, The Tempest and Fantastic Mr Fox, alongside concerts to mark the culmination of our Year 7 instrumental programme and our Upper Sixth A Level composition work. Next week we will look forward to Sports Day and our Play in a Day performances. It has been a huge pleasure to have our students return to school and, gradually, to see the return of sports fixtures, school trips, and Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. The energy and talent of our students continues to flourish and the mood and atmosphere in school is hopeful, positive and optimistic, as we look ahead to the summer holidays and our new academic year. I hope that you enjoy reading about the range of activities we have enjoyed in recent months. Dr Stephen Burley Head Master
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